Forts and ground objectives won’t be permanently destroyed. After having received certain damage, they will be temporarily disabled and will award victory points. They don’t want to explain all the rules of this new mode. They are more interested in the feedback it will receive from the PT, including how easy it is to understand without any previous knowledge.

Players won’t be able to opt out of the new game mode.

German BB’s are coming in one or two updates. They’re still in development.

No upgrade depot planned in the foreseeable future.

Ranked battles matchmaker will not be changed with this update. The new rules will only apply to random battles for now.

They may give players the option to choose between the new ribbon style or the old one. It will all depend on PT feedback.

Additions

Tier 3 premium German battleship König Albert added

Tier 4 German battleship Kaiser added

Tier 7 (premium?) German battleship Scharnhorst added

Tier 7 premium USN cruiser Flint added

Tier 9 premium USN destroyer Black added

Placeholder data for ARP Takao added

Ar 196C and Fw 62 spotter planes added

Shell data for German battleships added

Changes

Pretty much every cruiser in the game and a handful of destroyers had their armour models changed (no nerfs/buffs, just more detailed armour models). This is absolutely too much to document, and the changes shouldn’t be very significant gameplay-wise anyway.

Yubari: HP buffed (18300 > 18700)

Profintern: name changed to Krasnyi Krym

Several ships got 360 degree arcs on their turrets, see table below

Data added for Bastion gamemode buildings

Miscellaneous changes

ARP Takao captain added

ARP Gunzou captain added

Text changes

They changed the formatting on every line in the game because Lesta hates me

To provide gameplay diversity during high-Tier battles, we have come up with a game mode called “Bastion”. Available only on the “Atlantic” map for now, this mode will have you assaulting or defending onshore installations, such as forts and strategic stations like radars or smaller fortifications. Neutralising or capturing these will net you Domination points, so it should be familiar to all who have tried “Domination” battles at higher Tiers.

New Maps for Tiers VII-X

Enhanced Amour Models for Cruisers

New Ribbons

Improved Matchmaker

The Matchmaker is the game component responsible for selecting the composition of both teams in the battle. With the overhauled system, we are now aiming to have the number of top-Tier ships in battle strictly balanced.

In version 0.5.8, we are launching a new and improved matchmaker for the Random Battles mode. The purpose of this change is to exclude situations when players could immediately guess the outcome of a battle by the composition of the teams, and to make confrontations more honest.

The features of the new matchmaker are as follows:

Situations when opposing teams appeared to have different number of players were completely excluded;

Aircraft carriers in opposing teams will continue to belong to the same tier;

In every battle, we have “battle tiers”, i.e. the maximum tier of a ship for a given battle. Ships of tiers corresponding to the tier of the battle are called “tops” or “top ships”. The following rules will apply to them:

Permissible difference in the number of divisions between the teams is limited and now equals 1;

Permissible difference in the number of destroyers between the teams is limited and now equals 1;

Permissible difference in the number of battleships between the teams is limited and now equals 1;

Permissible difference in the number of cruisers between the teams is limited and now equals 2;

For each type, the number of top ships will be strictly symmetrical. For example, if in a Tier VIII battle one team has two Tier VIII battleships, two Tier IX cruisers and one Tier VIII destroyer, the other team would also have two Tier VIII battleships, two Tier IX cruisers and one Tier VIII destroyer;

The above rule also applies to battleships belonging to a Tier that is one step lower than the Tier of the battle. For example, if in a Tier VIII battle one team has one Tier VII battleship, the other team would also have one Tier VII battleship.

We also recommend addressing some of the things that have to be tested to determine whether they’re necessary or not:

The new matchmaker logic does not provide for any ‘mixing’ of ships by nation, i.e. theoretically, there could be a situation where three Japanese destroyers will encounter three U.S. ones;

If it takes too long to assemble teams for a battle for whatever reason, battles may be fought between teams with incomplete lineup (11х11, 10х10 etc.);

Balancing the lowest Tier ships outside of their type is allowed. For example, a tier VIII battle could involve a Tier VI destroyer against a Tier VI battleship;

Balancing two same-type ships with enemy ships of adjacent Tiers is allowed if they are not in the top of the team and if they are not battleships. For example, in a Tier VIII battle, a Tier VI cruiser could find herself against a Tier VII cruiser on the opposing team;

Divisions may include ships of various tiers (low-tier ships are allowed to divisions with high-tier ships);